I just finished a review of David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral (an
entire chapter on Calvin's Geneva) and am working on a piece titled The Structure
of Religious Systems and the Liberal/Conservative Divide in order to explain
what one should know about the rift over homosexuality and the Levitical
prohibitions in general in the Christian churches. I am researching it because a 75
year old carmelite monk gave me a book titled Goodby, Good Men How Liberals
Infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church (Michael S. Rose - regnery publishing)
expressing his distaste for what was happening from his point of view.
I want to know what was happening in the Protestant world since I have an
idea what's happening in the Catholic one, and this list helps me do that.

I got this from deal hudson of crisis magazine this week:

Francis Cardinal Arinze, Nigerian prelate and president of the Vatican's
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, gave the commencement address
at Georgetown University's recent graduation ceremony. University dean Jane
McAuliffe asked the cardinal to speak on Christian-Muslim relations, but the
cardinal chose another focus for his address.

And his choice caused a firestorm.

Later, many professors voiced their outrage over Arinze's speech. A letter
protesting the address was signed by 70 faculty members and sent to McAuliffe
a
few days later. One professor even left the stage where Arinze was speaking.
Another professor (and priest) took it upon himself to apologize "on behalf
of
Catholics" for the cardinal's "insensitive remarks" which the professor said
were "un-Christian." Still another professor said the presentation was
"wildly
inappropriate."

So what exactly did Arinze say?

Here's the offending passage: "In many parts of the world, the family is
under
siege. It is opposed by an anti-life mentality as is seen in contraception,
abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. It is scorned and banalized by
pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality,
sabotaged by irregular unions and cut in two by divorce."

Now we all know that Georgetown claims to be Catholic while ignoring the
Church's full moral teachings. Nevertheless, I can't help but be bowled over
when I read stories like this. Here's a great leader for the Church, the kind
of man that we've all been praying for in the wake of scandals where many
American bishops have remained fearfully silent. Finally, a Cardinal we can
respect for proclaiming the truth.

==============

I come to this list and find my fellow Christians embroiled in the same
controversy. So, I speak from the research I've already started and the 5,000 words
I've already written. You can call it obsessed. I call it knowing my
material. Some people shirk from these arguments. I want to get to the bottom of them.
I'm going to Jerusalem.
How about you?